Prop Modelling - Texture

This week involved texturing the props we have made. I struggled with having a rust texture that I liked, and sampled many, placing them on my UV map and importing them into Maya. Some of the textures didn't look good in terms of the quality.

These four textures, while I liked them, weren't that great looking when they were placed onto the pipe model.

looks cool but hard to tile

also cool, but once again, it wasn't very tileable

another texture that didn't work out

In the end, I finally found some textures that I liked, and tiled nicely! At first I believed that the quality was seriously bad, and it was hard to be convinced by the textures, when the prop itself was really smooth and flat on its surface.

I think we might do bump mapping? I hope we do, cause otherwise the rusted pipe will look a bit odd, especially since rust is definitely not smooth to the touch. I don't think we are though, so I will always be slightly irked with this pipe.

The UV for my pipe (I MADE IT LIKE 5 TIMES)

For the texturing part, I originally mucked up my UV Texture, as I forgot about the small faces that I had made so that the pipe has sharper edges at the opening.

After redoing it, I had a nice UV, and I moved it into Photoshop to add the texture. However, my textures weren't well picked at first. I attempted to try and blend them so they were seamless, but it was too hard to try and do, and I didn't fancy wasting my time trying to make something look good when I could search for a better texture.

So I did.

It took me a while to find a texture that I felt was suitable, but I found it. This one did require some effort in making seamless, but it was much less time consuming than other textures I attempted.

I slapped in onto my pipe and BAM. One textured pipe.

Tiling the texture that I chose.

A

Successful texture no. 1 

Successful pipe texture no. 2

Character Modelling

Starting character modelling was not as daunting as I was expecting. Fortunately my design worked how I intended it to. The simplicity of the character I tried to implement shape language such as circles and rectangles, slightly edited. Because of this, the building was manageable for my skill set, and was less terrifying to approach.

I stuck to using cubes to build most of my model. First came a circle, as when I though about how the robot would practically be built realistically.

The base of the head.

The exterior.

Look at that body.

Button nose.

__________

 UPDATE 29-08-15
__________

I opened up Maya at home to work on my character, but the file wasn't opening. In a nutshell, a window popped up saying that the file was corrupted.

Ich ätgere mich darüber...

ich habe kein auge zugemacht. ich bin mude, SEHR MUDE. I DON't need this. arsuvghfgrYzju

After a weekend of trying to recover my corrupted maya file, I gave up, and decided it was more economical if I just restarted from an earlier save point. It's frustrating, but things happen. It's taught me to save more often in the very least.

I am starting back from this save point:

wusruwrstwuWRSTUWURST

The state of my history from the point I am restarting from (with a few additions as I started working before I took the screenshot).

LOOK AT ALL THE STUFF I HAVE TO NAME.

Turn Tables

Turntable for my object; a Pipe. 

Jo's work below.

To whom it may concern,

Bucky is great.

BUCKY, STOP WRITING IN MY NOTEBOOK!!!

Character Model Sheet

The final design I made my character was a robotic Red Panda (I think they're so cute hsauhegliuah).

It took me a bit to whittle it down to what animal, and then again it took me time to decide on the final components of the design. Using my visual research as influence and inspiration I made some decisions I felt were economic in what would later be me constructing the character in Maya.

The process involved some aspects such as, what components would a robot realistically have? And how can I implement that into my design?

I tried to keep the shapes simple; anything too audacious may be aesthetically pleasing, but to troublesome to try and make, which would be a poor economic decision for the time-frame and my skill set. So I kept the complicated details as smaller features; the fur on its face (just triangular shapes), and the joints and smaller parts such as the hands. Perhaps the most complicated part will eyes. They are like camera lenses, and building them with the shutters to act as eyelids do will be challenging. As well as the eyes, building the microphone component to the ear.

I forgot to add the stripes on the tail, but trust me they are there.

Paying attention to the physiology of the Red Panda, I tried to build a model that could function in walking on all fours, and on two feet. This became an issue at first, as I wanted my robot to function logically. I had the epiphany later that was also my own design, I could make choices that would make sense it the world I was building. It made future decisions easier, consistently reminding myself that it was a world of my creation.

Therefore, as I progressed with the design, I made the features suit how I wanted, one of the main ideas keeping the robot character cute. The reason behind this is to create an image that appeals to the audience in a way that draws upon ones empathy towards "cute" things. Arguably a genetic development that instigates the want to care for youth and offspring - but that's biology not animation.

Sculpting

We got the opportunity to sculpt our characters in clay, the main purpose to understand the topology for our character. Knowing the way to approach it was difficult, mainly in how I would go about constructing the face.
I'm debating whether to create a sphere and tweak it to make the fur points and ears, or use multiple shapes. Especially since the robot is meant to be a base with a shell covering the internal structure.

I built the main parts, such as the head and the body and tail. It was good to see how I would approach each component. It will be interesting to see how I manage to translate the model I made in clay to Maya. Especially in regard to what implications in the design that I may face.

In theory, I feel that I will be able to build and modify certain parts with ease, such as the tail. However, when it comes to projecting this into the programme I may find I will be testing my knowledge, which will hopefully provide a learning curb.

I will update with the image of my sculpture (which sits by my computer) when i figure out how to get them off my phone!

3D Model Building - Prop

We began building the prop for our animation. Fortunately, mine didn't take too long! I had it built in one lesson thanks to the present polygons in Maya.

The only changes I had to make were to the edges on the two extreme edges of the cylinder. The edges were not behaving how I wanted them to when I smoothed out the object.

LOOK AT THOSE EDGES NOT WHAT I WANT

Looking at the mesh you can see there isn't enough information for there to be
a flat edge - like a pipe.

After enlisting the help of Keat (thanks Keat!) I solved the problem. Adding edge loops to the exterior and interior of the polygon pipe.

The edge is evident here, but this is prior to smoothing.

By adding an edge loop, as seen above, the mesh has more information to be
read.

These edge loops provide more information, which is imperative in the smoothing process. And as a result, these loops create the shape I am after. And thus:

Ta-da! One nice pipe. Here is some extra stuff I did too practice my skills.

Variation of the pipe.

And now it's from Mario Bros.

Below is Jo's handy work.

Captain America  dies in Civil War.




Dearly beloved,

We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of a great iconic symbol of freedom, justice, and truth. Steven Grant Rogers is well known to all as Captain America, but to his closest friends, he is a kind man; a well-loved man, a man who stands up to always doing what is right for the sake of a better world, and for the dream of a better tomorrow. He's strove all his life to be the best man he can possibly be, and he has never failed in this regard. He is survived by his best friend, James Buchanan Barnes, and also the legacy of the Avengers. His fellow comrades, Natalia Alianovna Romanova, Robert Bruce Banner, Anthony Edward Stark, Sam Wilson, Clint Barton, Thor Odinson will remember him always and forever.

He will join his family, comrades and loved ones in Heaven, and he will be missed.


A moment of silence to celebrate the life of Steven Grant Rogers, if you please.

...































BUCKY! STOP WRITING A EULOGY! I'M 98 YEARS OLD, NOT DEAD!

Early Character Concepts

First Stages

Initially, my character was intended to be a humanoid like robot. So here, in my design concepts, you can see the focus on that. I did allow for alterations, such as different modes of how the robot traveled. This took my work from being strictly humanoid, to matching with a very mechanical design per se.

From this, I felt that my design was going away from where I wanted to head. When I thought about my narrative (which originally didn't have an animalistic robot), it was understood that the robot wanted to escape. It's motivation however, didn't feel compelling.

That's when I decided (after some feedback from various people), that making the robot be a animal might be a strong creative decision.

At this point, I pondered over what kind of animal I could possibly use; there's the option of keeping it familiar, or branching out and making it some weird hybrid. Once again, I felt that the familiarity of making it an animal well known would potentially produce more sympathy in the robots escape - which is what I want!

First sketches, thinking more along the lines of a humanoid robot.

So after deciding that I did indeed, want to make it an animal, I took to concepts again, considering what kind of animal would be both practical to build and help with the story telling process. I started off thinking of domestic animals - animals you would be accustomed to seeing, and would be easier to recognise in robot form.

Domestic animal process 

I later revised this thought pattern, and deliberated the idea of being a more "wild" animal, something that may strengthen the idea of an animal that would want freedom. Domestic animals are just that; domestic. Them being in "captivity", or being a pet is a universally accepted role for species such as canines, felines etc. Branching out to animals that are only to be found in the wild, and seeing them in captivity, away from their natural habitat, can be saddening for people to see. This kind of emotion is what I would want to be evoked in the viewer, creating a immediate bond and wanting to root for the little guy. I feel that this will be best achieved with a animal not typically seen (bar zoos, though perhaps that aids the cause, as zoos can used for entertainment purposes).

Finally, I managed to select an animal, based on a) the cuteness of said animal, and b) the way it will be to build and convey through shapes, hopefully.

Storyboard